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Object-Teaching; 



OR, 



WORDS AND THINGS. 



/ 



BY 



T. G. ROOPER, Esq.., M.A., 

INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND ; 
AUTHOR OF "a POT OF GREEN FEATHERS." 




NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ; 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO. 

1894. 



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V 



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Published by special permission of the author, who has written a preface 
and added topic headings and questions for the student. This edition is one- 
half the price of another edition which has not its advantages. 

A STUDY IN APPERCEPTION. 

or "A Pot of Green Feathers,'' by Mr. Rooper, a very valuable little book of 
the same size and price. It discusses the menial operations by which wc 
acquire knowledge. 



Copyright, 1894, by 

L. KELLOGG & CO., 

NEW YORK 



PREFACE. 



I HAVE attempted in the following pages to introduce 
English readers to a group of German thinkers who 
have worked out theoretically and practically the bear- 
ing of certain important philosophic principles on prac- 
tical education. 

Many experienced parents and teachers hold that the 
training of young children is far better conducted in 
the absence of leading principles to guide it. They 
point out that there is no reason to suppose that the 
most successful teachers have been students of philoso- 
phy, and they infer that a study of philosophic princi- 
ples is of no consequence to a teacher. 

It appears to me, however, that they who argue thus 
mistake the function of philosophy. German writers 
on education have not sought to reveal some new and 
untried methods of teaching, but rather to study the 
causes of success where success has been attained. After 
making due allowance for the magic influence of genius 
in a great teacher (which of course dies with him except 
for its indirect effects), it is still possible to ascertain how 
he actually taught with the view of finding out as much 
as may be of the secret of his success. Such research is 
worth while, because even if it appear after all that the 

3 ^ 



PREFACE, 



great man^s influence on his pupils was really a kind of 
magic or legerdemain, and as such inimitable, neverthe- 
less it is interesting to know how the trick was done. 

Few, however, will really doubt that it is possible to 
disentangle a few leading principles which lie at the 
basis of successful teaching. It does not, of course, 
follow that because a teacher is acquainted with these 
principles he will be able to apply them with effect, but 
the knowledge will certainly aid him in his difficult 
task. Teachers, like poets, are ^^born, not made;" but 
A^hereas no one is a poet on compulsion, all parents are 
compelled to be teachers, and a vast number of others 
besides parents must undertake the training of children 
without being especially endov/ed by nature with a 
genius for education. 

The reason why one teacher can keep up the attention 
of a class in a lesson on Greek irregular verbs while 
another sees the attention of his class wandering in the 
midst of a lesson on Hannibal and the Eomans appears 
to be thought by some an insoluble mystery and by 
others a mystery not worth solving. For myself, I 
believe that the studies of German writers on education 
help to solve such mysteries, and I hold that in the 
interest of childhood they are worth solving. My hope 
is that the following brief lecture may direct the atten- 
tion of others engaged in teaching to an inexhaustible 
gold-mine of educational philosophy in which I have 
dug with great profit to myself. 

T. G. RooPER. 



*'The Elms," High Harrogate, 

LONDON; March 15, 1894, 



OBJECT TEACHING, OR WORDS AND 
THINGS. 



*'Her eyes are open; 
Aye, but their sense is shut. " — BJiakespeare. 

On" a particular occasion during the recent visit of 
the Empress of Germany to London it became the duty 
of the reporters of the public journals to describe Her 
Imperial Majesty^s dress. Subsequently the Glole col- 
lected the descriptions of the costume as they were given 
by different reporters, to this effect: 

The Times stated that the Empress was in ^^gold 
brocade/^ while, according to the Daily JVetvs, she wore 
a "sumptuous white-silk dress/^ The Standard ylao^^- 
ever, took another view: " The Empress wore something 
which we trust it is not vulgar to call light mauve/^ 
On the other hand, the Daily Chronicle was hardly in 
accord with any of the others: "To us it seemed almost 
a sea-green, and yet there was now a cream and now an 
ivory sheen to it/^ 

The Pot of Green Feathers. — 'Eo wonder that the 
Glole asks emphatically, " What did the Empress wear ? ^' 
This incident seems to me another illustration of what 
I tried to explain in a brief paper, which I named, " The 

5 



OBJECT TEACHING, 



Pot of Green Feathers/^ I tried to prove in that paper 
that we do not, as common-sense is apt to suppose, learn 
directly from an object that lies before us nearly as 
much as we seem to do. I showed that the mind of the 
beholder, with its existing stock of ideas, adds to the 
impressions which it receives from the object as much 
or more than it actually receives from them. Many 
impressions which seem to enter the mind directly from 
the object really make their way in only mediately, as 
the result of inferences and combinations made by the 
mind itself. Something is supplied by the object and 
something else is supplied by the mind. 

The consequence is that our knowledge of an object 
is not, as it seems to be, entirely determined by the 
object, and the statement that "the senses are the gate- 
ways of knowledge ^^ must be accepted as one which 
conveys only a partial truth. " What,^^ says somebody, 
" can I not believe my own senses ? '^ " Certainly,^^ I 
reply, " but only if you carefully distinguished between 
the actual gifts of the senses and your inferences from 
those gifts.^^ The process of interpreting impressions 
was popularly explained in the aforementioned paper, 
but those who wish to see the question much more 
philosophically treated should read Mr. Stout^s article 
on Apperception in a recent number of Mind. I pro- 
pose in my present paper to assume a knowledge of 
this process, and to proceed a little further in the appli- 
cation of psychological principles to educational practice. 
My intention is to explain what I know of Object Teach- 
ing — that kind of teaching which ought to be the foun- 
dation of all learning, however abstract and advanced. 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 



' Object Teaching not Information Giving. — Object 
Teaching has so much in common with other kinds of 
teaching, especially with language lessons and informa- 
tion lessons, that it is frequently confused with them. 
The distinction between them is, however, of the utmost 
importance, and the true nature of Object Teaching can 
hardly be made clear without drawing the distinction. 

Its Eelation to Language Teaching. — My first point, 
therefore, will be to show what Object Teaching has in 
comxmon with language teaching, or in other terms, the 
relation of Words to Things. 

The Process of Apprehension is from the vague " Whole^^ 
to a " Whole '' made definite by a Knowledge of its Parts. 
— If an object be presented to our eyes for the first time 
we cannot at once obtain a clear vision of all its separate 
parts and qualities. By fixing our attention we become 
aware of a number of different parts and qualities, which 
we make out one after the other in more or less rapid 
succession; but the mental image of the object which 
we obtain in this way is far from clear or well defined. 
The object as it is first viewed by the inner vision is like 
a mass of hills in a sea of mist. Just as the numberless 
summits are there massed together into one ill-defined 
elevation of land, so the parts and qualities of the objects 
are massed together into a vague multitude about which 
we can say little that is precise. 

There must be Analysis. — The process of arriving at 
definition and precision is one of analysis. Out of the 
confused mass of impressions, first one emerges into 
clearness, and then another, until the division of the 
whole is as complete as our mind can make it. The 



8 OBJECT TEACHING, 

process of analysis of an unfamiliar object is far from 
easy, because each separate quality and part exists in the 
object as a portion of an undiyided whole. 

Example. — A piece of lump-sugar, for instance, is to 
a young child a composite whole which he cannot ana- 
lyze for himself. Older persons can say that it is white, 
hard, sweet, sparkling, and crystalline; but we cannot 
present to the child the whiteness, or the hardness, or 
any of the other qualities as separate objects outside and 
independent of the lump. We can only place beside 
the sugar other white things, such as salt, milk, fat, 
cotton, and direct attention to the quality which they 
have in common, namely, whiteness. In this way only 
we can guide the child to make for itself the mental 
effort which is needed for reaching the abstract concep- 
tion whiteness, and if we wish to lead him to the con- 
ception of hardness, sweetness, and the rest, we must 
proceed in the same way. 

1. Words Aid the Analysis of an Object.— The process 
seems to prove that language is practically essential for 
success in such acquisition of knowledge, and the truth 
is, as we shall see more and more clearly in the sequel, 
that apart from " words ^^ there are for human science no 
'' things,^^ because the analysis of a whole into its parts 
can proceed but a very little way without words. When 
we take notice of the various parts and qualities of an 
object, and give each a name successively, what is there 
to fix these parts in the mind as complements of one 
whole, but the name which we give to the whole object ? 
Essential as the word is for analysis, it is quite as 



OR WORDS AND THINGS, 



necessary for synthesis — that is, for reuniting in thought 
what our thought has separated. 

2. They Assist to Separate the Object from the ^^Ego/^ 
— There is another mental process which the word 
greatly assists. In the presence of a new object, if it is 
sufficiently startling in its nature, we forget ourselves 
and are lost in the object. Self-consciousness vanishes. 
We can no longer say " That is an object, and this is I.^^ 
We are in that strange condition of mind which super- 
venes when we witness a fine soliloquy well acted on the 
stage — say, Hamlet^s ^^To be or not to be,^^ or a love 
scene. If the actors are really successful, the scene 
before us does not seem to be going on in our presence. 
The thought of ourselves as present would be a dis- 
agreeable feeling of intrusion. 

Examples. — In certain states of mind the inner and 
outer are blended into one. When .the consciousness of 
the distinction between the " I ^^ and the " not \y^ that 
is, between the " I ^^ and the object, begins to arise, it is 
language which defines and renders permanent the dis- 
tinction. Disturbed by a sudden peal of thunder in the 
night, we wake in a confused state of mind till the word 
'' thunder " occurs to us, and seems to extricate us from 
the feeling of '' not knowing our own selves.^^ 

3. Speech is an Outward Expression of the Eesult of an 
Inward Mental Process. — In this way it comes about that 
speech may be regarded as an act of deliverance for the 
understanding. When from amidst the whirl of sensa- 
tions which crowd in upon it, or from the overpowering 
effect produced by a single group of impressions, the 
mind has obtained mastery over itself and reduced 



10 OBJECT TEACHING, 

confusion to order, there arises a feeling of triumph 
which finds expression for itself by means of words, and 
often by gestures as well. The internal sense of victory 
reacts upon the body, and the body reflects the feeling 
of the mind. The reaction of the mind on the bodily 
organism causes the utterance of the word, and now 
there are present in the consciousness two things — the 
object known and the utterance of the sound or the 
name of the object. 

Object and Word become Associated. — These two are 
intimately associated, and so strong is the association 
that afterwards one alone, if both are not present, calls 
the other into consciousness. I see, for instance, a lake 
before me, and I cry " Windermere.^^ Or I read of 
Windermere in a book, and I think at once of my men- 
tal image of the lake; I see a view of the lake in my 
mind^s eye. 

When Words are Significant. — This association occurs 
where the knowledge of the object and of the name of 
the object have been associated in acquisition. Where 
word and object are thus associated the word is in a 
special way the mark or indication or sign of the object, 
and such words are significant words in a special sense 
of the word significant. The utterance of them is 
weighted with a mental reproduction of the thing signi- 
fied, and it is by no means so rapidly or so easily made 
as the utterance of a word that reproduces no mental 
image, and is a mere sound. If words were more sig- 
nificant in this sense than they are to most people, 
orators would use fewer of them; for i-eally significant 
words, inasmuch as they thus carry weight, pass much 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. H 

more slowly through the mind than the others which 
are as empty ships that float lightly and sail quickly^ 
owing to the absence of cargo. 

4. The Word Mediates.— The word then mediates 
between the mind and the object. The object is with- 
out us, and the knowledge of the object is within us. 
BetAveen the inner and the outer, that is, between the 
object and our knowledge of the object, comes the word 
as a support to the mind in mastering the object. By 
means of the word the mind can set itself opposite to 
the object, and separate itself from it more completely 
than during the actual contemplation which precedes 
recognition of an object. 

Double Katiire of the Word. — The spoken word is well 
suited for mediating between mind and object, because 
of its double nature. It is on the one hand physical 
and outward, being the product of the bodily organism; 
and on the other hand inward and immaterial, because 
it is called into being by the mind, and expresses an 
inward impression. Inasmuch as the nature of the 
spoken word is inward, it is related to inward impres- 
sions; but inasmuch as its nature is also outward, being 
a physical thing, it helps the mind to present to itself its 
inward impressions as outward objects. 

Pleasure in Gaining a Word for an Object. — Every one 
may notice that as soon as a young child has once recog- 
nized and named a particular object (no matter whether 
he invents a name for himself or imitates his mother), 
he loves to keep on repeating the name as often as he 
sees the object. The pleasure of recognition is marked 
by the utterance of the word. 



12 OBJECT TEACHING, 

5. Names serve as Points around which to Group 
Knowledge. — Hov/ever long we regard an object, we do 
not take in all that can be known about it, but only so 
much of it as we ourselves are able to comprehend. A 
name, in the same way, does not indicate all the quali- 
ties of a thing, but only the most prominent. The baby 
child calls his dog '' bow-wow ; ^'"* that is to say, one single 
lively impression, that of barking, is named and taken to 
represent a large collection of impressions. A number 
of separate impressions are by means of the word " bow- 
wow ^^ converted into a concise whole, and in place of 
several separate items of observations made successively 
and often at long intervals, we now have in the word or 
name a brief summary of them recalling the whole. 

The word which thus summarizes for us Avhat we 
know of an object serves as a fixed point around which 
we can group all else which we may afterwards learn 
about the object. 

Example. — The child hears the dog bark, and sees it 
run, jump, pursue, catch flies, and worry the cat, and 
the name dog in the end calls up all these qualities. 
Then inasmuch as the child sees other dogs behaving 
like his own, he uses the name dog to describe the 
whole fused mass of similar impressions, and "dog^^ 
becomes a class name. Every fresh impression about a 
dog which the child acquires is associated with the name 
" dog,^^ which thus collects a wider and fuller meaning. 
The word then may be regarded as a net spread by the 
mind to catch the results of new observations and retain 
them. 

Another Example.— The word '^mountain/' for in- 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 13 

stance, remains the same, although after seeing the 
Lake Mountains in England, the mountains of Central 
Europe, and the Swiss Mountains, my conception of 
the thiug changes very considerably. 

Original Meaning often Lost. — Words in this way lose 
something of their original meaning. "Wolf^ meant 
originally " the tearer,^^ and '^ mouse '^ meant "the thief. ^^ 
" Lady ^^ meant (perhaps) " bread-kneader.^^ Who thinks 
of such meanings now ? Thus it is clear that the cur- 
rent meaning of a word often depends upon the connec- 
tion in which it is used at the time, and not upon its 
etymology, as is amusingly shown in the little invitation 
and acceptance of two French ladies which I read lately 
in a French comic paper : " Voulez yous five-o^ docker 
chez mois ? '' " Avec plaisir. Mais a quelle heure ? ^^ * 

Recapitulation. — The word then, briefly to resume its 
uses, aids us to analyze an object into its component 
parts. We look at a dog and see it sometimes running, 
sometimes sleeping, sometimes black, but in every 
different case we see the dog as a whole. Our eyes do 
not divide for us the thing dog, and the action running. 
It is by use of the word dog that we are able to separate 
in thought the object dog from its various properties 
and activities. The more searching and varied our 
observations, and the more we increase our knowledge 
of these properties of an object, the richer becomes the 
significance of the word, and the more refined and defi- 
nite becomes our knowledge of the thing. 

^ '' Will you take five-o'clock tea with me ? " '* With pleasure. 
But at what hour ? " 



14 OBJECT TEACHING, 

Conclusion. All good Object Lessons are also good 
Language Lessons. — By use of the word again, we can 
group together many different but similar impressions. 
We call many shades of green — apple, emerald, sage, 
and grass — all green. Words help us to restore to 
consciousness at pleasure past impressions of objects, 
and make it possible for us to recall particular impres- 
sions out of a cumbrous or perhaps ill-defined mass. 
Words give us a mastery over our stores of past impres- 
sions which we should not possess if the whole of every 
object had to be recalled every time we wished to speak 
of it, instead of so much of it as is sufficient for our 
immediate purpose. By words we can study the prop- 
erties of things independently of things themselves, and 
by words we can arrive at the conception of general ideas 
and enter into the domain of science. Without words 
we can look at objects and know them as animals do, 
but we can have little or no science. Object teaching 
should bring us into ever closer touch with objects; but 
to effect this contact the right use of the right words is 
indispensable. 

The Importance of Formal Grammar in Elementary 
Education has been Overestimated. — But you may say, 
" If you insist so much on the importance of language, 
why do you attach so little importance to formal gram- 
mar as a class subject ? ^^ My answer is, that there is 
a wide difference between learning a foreign language 
and learning your mother tongue. Grammar lessons 
in connection with his mother tongue are commenced 
long after the child has learnt to talk and read it. The 
function of the grammarian in dealing with the gram- 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. IS 

mar of his own tongue is to take the language as he 
finds it used^ and note its agreement with or variation 
from the laws which govern human speech; and, as far 
as possible, to explain discrepancies. 

Formal Grammar of Little Value so long as only the 
Mother Tongue is Studied. — It seems, however, that this 
study is hardly possible until the student has learnt 
some other language besides his own with which he 
may compare its usages. Those will speak the purest 
English who converse with people whose diction and 
pronunciation are sound and clear, and whose vocabu- 
lary is ample and correctly used. Following rules of 
grammar when you are acquainted only with your 
mother tongue leads to as many mistakes as it cures. 
For instance, the rule that adverbs and not adjectives 
modify verbs, as ^^I write badly,^^ not ^^I write bad,^^ 
leads students to say " I feel badly ^^ when they do not 
mean to complain of their power of feeling, but to 
describe their own physical condition. A describing 
and not a modifying word is, therefore, wanted. They 
ought to say, "I feel bad,^^ "1 feel sick." "You look 
sad" again has a different meaning from "You look 
sadly." 

Every Child should Learn a Foreign Language. — 
Command of English, therefore, is gained by constant 
practice, by attending to the corrections of some one 
who has a good acquaintance with the current use of it, 
and by reading well-written books. To learn enough of 
grammar to parse " he would have written^^ is a lengthy 
process, and the time which it requires may more use- 
fully be spent in different studies. I have noticed in 



l6 OBJECT TEACHING, 

looking over papers in grammar and composition, that 
a sound knowledge of grammar is quite consistent with, 
undeveloped powers of writing and understanding plain 
English. To bring it so far as to distinguish the parts 
of speech and to analyze sentences hardly deserves to be 
called learning grammar; but so much probably every 
child would learn in the lessons on composition. I 
think, however, that every child ought to learn some 
foreign language, and then the study of formal grammar 
becomes much more useful. 

The Study of Objects Fundamental. — The study of 
objects is the forming correct impressions from objects 
which are actually presented to the senses; and though 
it is the lowest stage of intellectual development, it is 
the foundation. Man shares this study with animals, 
but it is the base of his whole mental superstructure. 
The mind has no ready-made knowledge of things and 
no innate ideas or conceptions. At the most it has apt- 
ness for acquiring them. Step by step, by daily contact 
with the outer world, by action and reaction of itself 
on objects and of objects on itself, by the reception of 
impressions and by the elaboration of them through in- 
ternal processes, the mind wins its laborious way to that 
degree of intellectual, moral, and spiritual elevation of 
which it is capable. 

Importance of Correct Impressions. — The main busi- 
ness of the Object Teacher is to enable the learner to 
form correct impressions, and there is no more impor- 
tant branch of instruction. Like the reporters, we look 
at a lady's dress. We then shut our eyes and try to re- 
call what we saw. We have in our mind a mental im- 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 1/ 

age of the dress. Similar mental images are the start- 
ing-point of all knowledge. If the impression first 
received is wanting in clearness and precision, if the 
mind cannot assimilate the impression, or if it cannot 
express in words what the impression is, as in the case 
of the same reporters, the mental image will not be an 
improvement npon the impressions on w^hich it is based, 
but will be full of confusion and obscurity. 

Trained Attention the First Eequisite. — A clear 
mental image can only be formed by trained attention 
to impressions from objects, by which the parts and 
characteristics are carefully grasped and impressions 
nearly alike clearly distinguished from impressions 
really alike. Vague, obscure, and shifting impressions 
of an object will never help us to know it rightly, how- 
ever frequently they are made. Four reporters take 
note of a dress and are at variance in describing its 
color. 

Names which recall Inexact Mental Pictures lead 
to Inexact Reasoning. — Another reason for the need of 
trained attention to impressions is to be found in the 
fact that our mental image of a particular object, when 
provided with a name, soon passes from being particu- 
lar and individual, and supplies us with a conception of 
a class. 

At first we name a particular animal dog. We after- 
wards think of all kinds of dogs under the name dog. 
Any particular dog which we note is seen in connection 
with many special characteristics, such as size, color, 
action, and the like; whereas our general conception of 
" dog '' only retains the most general impressions. The 



1 8 OBJECT TEACHING, 

content of the class name — the name dog as applied to 
all individual dogs — must needs be much more vague 
and indefinite than the same name when applied to a 
particular dog which we are looking at. 

Our general notions, therefore, although based on 
impressions from objects, can never be as clear and full 
and free from vagueness as the result of the original 
studies of particular objects upon which they are based. 
How important, therefore, that the study of such im- 
pressions of individual objects should be as exact as it 
admits of being made; for otherwise our conceptions 
are like a copy of an ill-drawn picture, which besides 
suffering from the defects of all copies has this addi- 
tional disadvantage, that it exaggerates the original im- 
perfection of the first picture. 

Good Object Teaching Leads to (1) Accurate Percep- 
tion and (2) Accurate Description. — The trained use of 
the senses is necessary not only to the man of science, 
whose pursuits are wholly based on the study of objects, 
but to the artist, who needs a vivid and accurate percep- 
tion of all the parts and relations of the objects which 
he represents, and even to the ordinary artisan, if he is 
to introduce into his work any original thought or de- 
sign. By the early training of the senses a man may 
learn to look out for what is new in objects, and to find 
it where the less carefully trained sees only what is 
familiar. The link between the inner world of the 
mind and objects, or the outer world, is speech. Speech 
is a spiritual hand for grasping objects by the mind. 
By words we fix in our minds our own impressions, and 
by words we communicate them to other people. Words 



OR WORDS AND THINGS, IQ 

express the relation of our consciousness to objects, and 
we mostly comprehend objects as words present them to 
our minds. Want of language, want of words filled 
with clear, definite meaning, is the greatest hindrance to 
culture. 

Object teaching, then, should, in connection with 
language teaching, form the children's conceptions, and 
supply them with a good store of significant words, to- 
gether with a knowledge of the right way to apply 
them. Object teaching places children closely in con- 
tact with nature and human nature, the two sources of 
human knowledge and moral experience. There is a 
knowledge of words which is really a knowledge of 
things. Object teaching is the reconciliation of the old 
antithesis between them. 

METHOD OF OBJECT TEACHIISra. 

1. Divide the Object into Parts. — Haying described 
the end and aim of Object Teaching I now come to its 
method. The key to the art of training the senses is 
analysis. An object presented to a child for the first 
time gives him a confused sense of impressions. The 
child must be shown how to divide this whole into con- 
venient parts in an orderly manner. His attention 
must be directed first to one part and then to another, 
and afterwards the bearing of one part on another must 
be carefully worked out. 

2. Reunite the Parts into the Whole.— After this 
analysis or study of detail the object must be again 
studied as a whole. It should never, after being thus 



20 OBJECT TEACHING, 

pulled to pieces, be left in fragments as it were, but the 
careful division of the separate parts should be followed 
by a reconstruction of them into the original whole. 
Such an attentive study of an object must replace the 
hasty, fugitive, and unstable glance which usually satis- 
fies a child. In studying an object it should not be 
forgotten that in nature things are not separate and 
independent existences; the attention must not be so 
wholly confined to the object and its parts as to allow 
the child to forget its relation to other things. Let the 
child see what part the object plays in its usual sur- 
roundings, and dwell upon its material, its origin, its 
use, its hurtfulness, its opposites, and its resemblances. 

The Aim of Object Teaching is to furnish the Child 
with a Method of aeq^uiring Knowledge for Himself. — 
Even children can study a particular object thoroughly 
up to a certain point, and the habit thus acquired ex- 
tends itself to objects which are not treated of by the 
teacher in school. In fact the right sort of object 
teaching develops a faculty of study which is of in- 
finitely more consequence than the actual information 
obtained. The faculty which is developed is of uni- 
versal application, while the knowledge of the object 
studied in developing it is necessarily limited and re- 
stricted. If I have studied with attention a very few of 
the manifestations of the eJffects of gravity and have 
really assimilated them, I am able to study other forces 
with greater ease. The use I can make of my knowl- 
edge depends not so much on what I can write down in 
an examination — often a cumbrous and superfluous 
store — as upon the way in which I have been taught. 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 21 

Object Teaching demands Time. — Teaching of this 
kind cannot be a hasty process. Time is needed for the 
mind to play freely over the object, and time is needed 
for recapitulation. After each part or characteristic 
has been considered separately, it should be again re- 
considered in relation to the whole. As there are three 
characteristics of good powers of observation which the 
detailed analysis of an object tends to promote — namely, 
speed in responding to impressions, infallibility in in- 
terpreting them, and exhaustiveness in examining their 
origin; so there are three advantages which recapitula- 
tion secures — namely, vividness of the mental image, 
strength and mental hold upon it, and versatility in 
employing it. 

Test the Growth of the Child's Knowledge of an Ob- 
ject by his Power of Expressing it by Drawing and 
Modelling. — Necessarily, therefore, in true Object Teach- 
ing the object must be kept frequently and long under 
the child^s notice, and his memory must be checked by 
repeated comparison of his mental image with the 
actual object. 

Hence drawing — that best external evidence of the 
inner mental image — or modelling, should be resorted 
to as early as possible. Even a very young child would 
early learn to reproduce from memory the shape of a 
particular ivy leaf, and then match the drawing or 
model with the original. The temptation of the teacher 
is to trust to the child^s memory, which is usually a 
perfect lumber-room of confused and inaccurate impres- 
sions. The object should be withdrawn from sight bit 
by bit while it is being studied. Where it is proved 



-^ OBJECT TEACHING, 



that the child has a vague or inaccurate notion of any 
part, let that vagueness be cleared away by fresh refer- 
ence to the object. In this way the carrying power of 
the memory is surely, if slowly, increased. One of the 
ablest specimens of Object Teaching in its elementary 
stage is printed in Mrs. SewelFs Life, and I can give no 
better illustration of my meaning. 

A2sr EXAMPLE OF OBJECT TEACHING. 

A little boy— M^e will say about four years old, runs 
from the garden to his mother. 

^'Oh! mother, do come and look at this beautiful 
thing on the rose4ree; I want to know what it is.'' 

"I am busy now, Charles; tell me what it is like 
What color is it?'' 

" Eed, I think." 

" Oh, I suppose it is a ladybird." 

'' Oh no, it is a great deal bigger than a ladybird." 

" Well, perhaps it is a tiger-moth, that has two red 
wings. Look, like this "—and the mother slightly 
sketches the tiger-moth on the slate. 

" Oh no, it is not at all like that." 

''Is it this color?" 

" No, it is not so red as that." 

'' Perhaps it is the color of this mahogany chair ? " 

" No, not just like that." 

"Perhaps like this nut?" 

" Yes, it is very much like that." 

" AVell, this is light brown, not red. But what shape 
is this beautiful creature ? " 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 23 

" Oh, I think it is round/' 

The mother draws a round figure on the slate. *^Is 
it like this ?^^ 

" No, not so round/' 

The mother makes a long thing in the form of a long 
caterpillar. 

" No, it is not so long.'' 

The mother then draws an oval. 

" Yes, it is very much like that/^ 

" And has it no feet ? " 

" I think it has some feet." 

^^How many? I suppose two feet like the birds. 
Are they like these?" 

^^ Oh no ! I am sure they are not like those." 

" You had better go and look at it again, and come 
and tell me." 

" Mother, it has six legs,'^ 

The mother draws two on one side and four on the 
other, ^as that right?" 

" No, it has three on each side." 

The mother corrects it. " Is that right ? *^ 

" Yes, that is really right." 

^^You will see by this example," said Mrs. Sewell, 
^^how much of accurate observation this lesson will 
have taught the child. Children will never weary of 
this sort of instruction, and it is impossible to calculate 
how much the child v/ill gain; very soon he will en- 
deavor to guide his mother's fingers to the correct form, 
and next endeavor to form the figure himself. The 
value of the habit of accurate observation is not to be 
told. In this way a child obtains the power of using 



24 OBJECT TEACH IISTG, 

his own mind, and he learns the value of correct lan- 
guage and description. 

" Had the mother simply complied with the child^s re- 
) quest, and gone into the garden and said ' That is a 
stag-beetle/ the subject would have been closed and the 
child^s interest quenched. Had a servant been with the 
child she probably would leave the question thus, * Oh, 
that^s a nasty beetle; don^t touch it or it will kill you 
with those great nippers; come away from it.^ Then 
the child would not only have its interest quenched, 
but would be taught to fear a harmless insect, and the 
creature would become an object of disgust.^^ 

The Difference between Object Lessons and Informa- 
tion Lessons. — If then Object Teaching be what I have 
attempted to describe it, the instruction must commence 
with an object or specimen. To talk to the children 
about things not seen during the lesson is not Object 
Teaching. Again, a conversation about all kinds of 
things in a superficial way is certainly a valuable lesson 
for a certain purpose. It conveys general information 
and corrects a tendency to pedantry, which is the beset- 
ting sin of all school work, but it is not Object Teach- 
ing. Talking over many things is not the same in 
effect as talking of nothing, but it is practice in con- 
versation, the use of words, mustering ideas, quickness 
in recalling past impressions, and grammar, rather than 
training the powers of observation and attention or lay- 
ing the foundation of knowledge by developing the 
faculties which we possess for attaining knowledge. 

Object Teaching must Train the Senses. — Nothing 
should be called an object lesson which does not im- 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. ^5 

prove the senses of the child and make him able, of 
himself, to advance in the true path of acquiring 
knowledge. The information conveyed in chats and 
lectures ends with the passive reception of it. The 
child is suffarcinated with facts like the Strasburg 
geese, but the facts are not imparted in such a way as 
to form the starting-point of further learning or to lay 
the foundation of a method of observation and research. 

In concluding this brief account of the theory of 
Object Teaching, I ask, What is the aim of Object 
Teaching? Is it talk ? Is it the mastery of language ? 
Is it the mustering of ideas ? Is it conveying general 
information ? All these kinds of instruction are needed, 
but they are not properly Object Teaching. This begins 
with a keen, many-sided, and accurate observation of a 
familiar specimen. 

A Specimen Lesson. — You may now fairly challenge 
me to give some concrete instance of what I consider 
good Object Teaching. " These are very fair phi- 
losophies of yours, no doubt,^^ it may be urged, " but 
] unless you reduce your theories to practice, how can we 
be sure that they are not like the proverbial horse which 
is a very good steed in the stable but an arrant jade on 
the journey ? ^^ 

After some consideration I have chosen as the subject 
of my lesson the common duck, not that I mean to 
make up one adapted only for infants, for I intend it 
for children over ten years, but because of its familiarity 
and the ease of procuring a specimen. Of course the 
compilation is intended to take up much more than one 



26 OBJECT TEACHING, 

lesson time, and I can only give j^ou the matter of the 
lesson, as it would take too long to show the method. 

A Lesson on the Duck. — In a lesson on the duck 1 
should avoid commencing with its Latin name {Anas 
loschus), its ornithological classification, and its history 
under domestication, and I should prefer to take first 
of all what we see of it ourselves. The children must 
be made to visit a pond, where there are ducks very 
frequently — the first time with their teacher, and after- 
wards by themselves; and the points which I state as 
facts should be gained by questioning the class^ after 
they have been to the pond and watched the ducks. A 
live duck should also be brought into school from time 
to time. 

The Duck's Body. — Where does the duck live ? 
Mostly in the water, even in winter. If we swam about 
in water which was nearly freezing we should be starved 
with cold. What is the difference between us and the 
duck ? The duck has feathers and we are without such 
covering; and further, the legs and feet of the duck are 
not made like ours. They do not contain so much 
blood. Compared with ours they are less fleshy, and 
expose less blood to the surface where it gets chilled by 
air or water. 

Now let us examine the duck^s clothing of feathers. 
On the sunny side of a pond we can pick them up in 
numbers. Are they all of the same size ? No, some are 
smaller than others. Let us examine a large feather. 
It consists of two parts, a firm stem which at one end is 
inserted into the skin, and at a certain distance above 
the end branches spread out on two opposite sides. We 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. ^7 

call the stem the quill^ and make pens of them, as 
goose-quills and crow-quills. Note that in the larger 
the branches cling to each other closely. In the smaller 
they are separate and fluffy. Which are softer ? Which 
do we make beds of ? The difference we mark by a 
name. The small feathers we call down. 

Now look at the duck^s body. Which feathers are 
outside ? We cannot see the down until we pluck off 
the feathers. The down clings close to the body; and 
notice the lower and inner part of some of the large 
feathers is also downy. Thus the duck has undercloth- 
ing as well as a dress to wear. These two coats keep it 
warm even in cold water. (The difference between the 
circulation and the breathing in birds and mammals 
should be introduced when the children are more ad- 
vanced.) 

Now look under the duck^s skin. There is a layer of 
yellow fat. (What people live on fat and smear them- 
selves with fat ? Why ?) So the duck is kept doubly 
wajrm. 

Does the water soak the duck^s feathers as it swims? 
Any lady who has a feather in her hat fears the rain 
will spoil it, and so it does. The water hardly wets a 
duck^s feathers. Note how it slides off a duck^s back 
in drops like peas. How is this ? 

First look at the arrangement of the outer and larger 
feathers. They lie close pressed together and overlap 
each other like tiles on a roof, off which the water flows 
from one to the other without getting between them, 
and the outer feathers protect the downy inner ones. 
If the wind is blowing and the rain falling, the duck 



28 OBJECT TEACHING, 

swims to meet the wind, and the penthouse of feathers 
is so arranged as to haye its free and weaker end turned 
away from the wind. We see how easily the water 
drops off the feathers, but if you look at the tiles of a 
roof you will see that they get wet in a storm though 
the people beneath remain dry. 

Do the duck^s feathers themselves get wet ? Try. 
Take a feather which has recently been dropped by a 
duck, and wet the upper side of it. It keeps dry like 
oiled silk. The reason is that it lias been oiled. Where 
does the oil come from ? Is it exuded from all over the 
ducVs body ? If this were so the down would be oiled, 
which lies nearest the body. But the down, unlike the 
larger feathers, does get wet if you put it in water, as 
you see, and so the source of the oil cannot be in the 
general surface of the skin. 

Now watch the duck on a sunny day, either when it 
is sitting on a sunny bank or when it is floating about 
on the calm surface of the water. Sometimes it is sleep- 
ing with its head under its wing. Sometimes it works 
its bill about, now moving it in the feathers near the tail, 
and now, as it were, smoothing down the other feathers 
of its body. The duck has a wart-like excrescence near 
the root of its tail, and this body secretes oil, which the 
duck, by use of its bill, smears over the feathers to make 
them waterproof. 

Now watch the duck on the pond. When a dog 
swims it sinks all its body in the water as far as its 
neck, and so does a horse, and so does a man, and what 
is more, all of these never cease moving their limbs, in 
order to keep their heads above water. The duck swims 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 2g 

on the surface of the water more like a cork, and can 
float without moving a muscle. Now what makes a 
cork swim so lightly ? Look at it. A cork is full of 
holes, and the holes are full of air. Look how lightly a 
bladder full of air floats. Is the duck full of air ? 

Let us examine a duck more closely, and look inside 
it as well as outside. First compare the flight feathers 
of the wing, the tail feathers, and the covering feathers. 

Then examine a wing and see how many joints it has, 
and how it unfolds and is folded, and note how the 
feathers lie. 

Then remove a wing and spread it out on a board for 
better study, and name the kinds of feathers on it. 

Then with a sharp knife, cut delicately through the 
skin over the breastbone, and fold it back and fasten it. 
Show the strong and thick muscles. Why does a bird 
want such strong muscles ? 

Then cut through the breastbone, or separate the 
breastbone and the ribs to show the hollow of the breast. 
Show the thin tissues in which air is collected. 

Clean the upper bone of a wing, and show a small 
hole in it near the shoulder. 

Saw through a bone lengthways and across. Show 
thafc it is hollow and that the hole in the bone admits 
air from the air-spaces above found, so that the duck^s 
bones are flUed with air. 

The appearance and position of the lungs can be con- 
trasted with those of a rabbit or any other mammal. 
Any one who has to clean and truss a chicken for roast- 
ing will not be shocked at dissecting a duck. The com- 
paratively solid bone of a mammal can be contrasted 



30 OBJECT TEACHING, 

with those of a bird. Besides the air in the breastbones 
the quills of the feathers are full of air, and the close- 
packed outer feathers keep much air beneath them in 
among the down. No wonder, then, the duck swims on 
the surface of the water, while the dog, when he swims, 
has only his head out. 

Now look at the shape of the body. Apart from head 
and neck it is oval, but not a perfect oval. It is some- 
what flattened. That is, it is wider from right to left 
than it is deep from below to the top of its back. This 
flattening makes it rest more securely on the water than 
it would if its body were perfectly oval. 

The Duck's Movements. — Notice how the duck swims. 
It moves its feet alternately, exactly as in walking on 
the land. Its feet have skin between the toes. Ex- 
amine a foot. With its outstretched broad surface it 
fans the water. Compare the foot of a hen. Which is 
best for swimming ? The feet push out backward and 
the body moves forward. Have you watched men 
rowing a boat ? If the body moves forward when the 
feet are moving backward what happens when the feet 
are pulled in again ? Does not the body move back- 
ward ? Watch the feet. When they are pushed back, 
the toes spread out and make, with the skin between 
them, a broad surface. When they are pulled in, the 
toes draw together and curl up a little, just as happens 
when the duck lifts its foot in walking on dry land. 
Thus the foot presents as little surface as possible to the 
water when it is being drawn in again. 

You will notice that the toes do not bend quite in 
the same way as our fingers do. Our fingers we bend 



OR WORDS AND THINGS, 31 

at our pleasure, but the duck's toes bend of themselves, 
and the skin folds up between them. As soon as they 
meet the resistance of the water in swimming, the toes 
and skin between them are spread out by the pressure 
of the water. 

Now notice the position of the feet on the legs. The 
feet are set inwards, and are less conyenient for walking 
on land. Compare a hen and a duck when they walk. 
The duck waddles. Watch the duck swim. The right 
foot in striking out backward pushes the body forward 
towards the left. The left foot similarly pushes the 
body forward towards the right again. Thus the body 
moves forward in a straight line, although neither foot 
pushes it quite straight forward. 

Lay two books of one size flat on a table. Push them 
forward by shoving the end corners alternately, but 
push one book in a diagonal direction each time, and 
the other in a perpendicular direction. Contrast the 
movements of the two books. Which miction makes the 
book move more easily forward ? If the duck's feet . 
were so set on, that each stroke in swimming were made 
exactly in a straight line backwards, would its progress 
be as easy as now, when the stroke is made sideways ? 

The legs of the duck are short. As it swims you see 
only its feet. The part of the leg which is inside the 
skin is stout. The free part is thin and sinewy. Take 
a flat ruler and move it through the v/ater broadside, 
first holding it by one end so that nearly all the ruler is 
in the water, and then holding it by the middle so that 
only a third of the ruler is in the water. In the second 



32 OBJECT TEACHING, 

case the ruler is moved more easily. Which case does 
the duck^s leg resemble? 

Examine the muscle of the duck^s leg; its strength, 
size, color, and attachment. The muscle of the foot. 
Look at the position of the legs. They are set on to- 
wards the hinder end of the body. Some water-birds 
have their legs set on more in the middle, like the moor- 
hen. On the contrary, the grebe has its legs set on still 
further back than a duck, and when it wants to stand it 
has to set its body nearly vertical or upright in conse- 
quence. 

This position may be again illustrated by holding a 
book between the finger and thumb (a) horizontally and 
(5) near one end. The duck walks uneasily on land: 
of course because its build is contrived for its aquatic 
habits — look at its feathers, its toes, the length and posi- 
tion of its feet! The hen^s legs look quite different. 
They are longer and more flexible. The toes are longer, 
being without a web. Much more of the legs is outside 
the skin. You can see a joint more than you can see in 
the duck. 

Compare, however, a duck^s leg and a hen^s leg after 
separating both from the body. Show the skeleton of 
the two legs and compare them and contrast the upper 
joint of the duck^s leg and the hen^s drumstick. 

If you hold a small book between your finger and 
thumb and make it walk along the table on the tips of 
them, the book moves more easily when you grasp it in 
the middle than when you grasp it near the end. Of 
course this can be explained by reference to mechanics if 
it is. thought desirable. The centre of gravity should be 



OR WORDS AAu THINGS, 33 

in a vertical line with the centre of support, or at any 
rate it must not be outside of it. The connection 
between this principle and the oval shape of the birdie 
body can be shown, and similarly in regard to the 
bend of the legs. But even without this a parallel 
instance leads to thoughtful observation of nature, 
and this leads on presently to a more accurate and 
quantitative study. It is possible to compare the 
foot of the coot or grebe, which has a fringe of web on 
each side of the toe, as an intermediate form between a 
hen and a duck. 

The Duck's Food. — What does the duck do on the 
pond ? It seeks food. Watch how it plunges its head 
under water and searches among the water- weeds or in 
the mud. Its name comes from this action. To duck 
is to dip the head. Besides weeds, the duck eats snails, 
fish, frogs, eggs, and spawn, caddis-worms, beetles, and 
the like. 

See how long it holds its head under water without 
taking breath. Eemember how much air it has in its 
body. Watch the duck raise its head from the water 
with its prey in its bill. It swallows the food but lets 
the water flow away. The duck does not want to swal- 
low too much water. You can watch the duck drink. 
It only swallows a few drops while stretching out its 
head and neck. 

We men can take a good mouthful of water. Why 
cannot the duck ? Look at the duck^s bill ? There 
are no lips like ours. Inside its mouth you see chan- 
nels and grooves crossing from side to side, and the free 
ends form a fringe or strainer. The edges of the 



34 OBJECT TEACHING, 

tongue have a similar fringe. These serve two pur- 
poses. They help to hold the prey firm in the beak and 
they help to strain the water run off it. 

How can the duck find its prey in the weeds ? True, 
as it has eyes, it, like us, can see under water, but poking 
about in the mud it soon makes the water thick. 

Compare the hen^s beak with the duck^s. The hen^s 
is pointed and hornlike. The duck^s is broad and more 
like a skin. Now we will cut the skin from base to 
point down the middle. Then we will make another 
cut in the left side across so as to divide it into an 
upper and an under section. Now we will turn back to 
the lower section. There you will see a great number 
of nerves. 

We men have many nerves under the skin at the tips 
of our fingers, and by the means of them we can tell in 
the dark whether we are touching a piece of bread or a 
stone. The duck uses its bill as we do our fingers, only 
far more cleverly. The blind men, however, see with 
their fingers. 

Look at the tongue of the duck; see how thick and 
fleshy it is, not dry like some birds\ That helps it to 
get its food. Now, then, we have seen how well adapted 
the duck^s feet and legs are for living much on the 
water. We now see how well its bill is constructed for 
the same purpose. What can you remember about its 
covering in this connection ? 

Comparison with Other Birds. — I have no space to 
continue about nesting and brooding, and hatching, or 
the development of the chick. After treating of all of 
these, it would be desirable to introduce the conception 



OR WORDS AND THINGS, 35 

of classification. By comparing the duck with geese 
and swans, and contrasting them with sparrows and 
robins, storks and cranes, you can show the difference 
between swimming-birds and waders and perchers. 

Saturday Expeditions. — A study like this can most 
readily be made in the country, where the children can 
visit a pond frequently and watch the ducks and note 
their habits; but most towns possess parks with lakes 
on which ducks swim about. Occasional expeditions 
on summer evenings or Saturdays, for the purpose of 
investigating natural objects in their surroundings, 
would be well-spent time. 

Too Much Science and Too Little. — If every detail 
that is dwelt upon is illustrated by presenting it to the 
eye of the children, and in many cases to the touch, 
such a lesson is not like a compendium of scientific 
facts which is learned by heart. On the contrary, the 
object is presented as much as possible as it lives and 
moves in- its natural surroundings. It is not a mummi- 
fied specimen out of a museum, from which all the grace 
and beauty of life and warmth and motion have been 
abstracted. A girl taught on this principle is not likely 
to commence a theme on her Mother with the remark, 
" Mother is the female parent of the child,^^ where there 
is too much science. Neither would a boy when asked 
to describe an ordinary hen^s egg answer, " An egg is an 
oblong white object with a shell composed of graveV^ 
where there is too little science. 

Again, the talk about the duck has not passed into a 
geiveral information lesson. We have not discussed 
duck-shooting, decoys, and the like, neither have we 



36 OBJECT TEACHING. 

gone into the " culinary ^^ preparation of the duck, all 
of which might be usefully dealt with in their place. 
It has been an object lesson within the meaning of that 
term, as I have described it in my lecture. 

I have been reading the second report of the com- 
mittee of the British Association on present methods 
of teaching chemistry, and I appreciate very keenly the 
excellence of the pamphlet. What there is said of 
chemistry is true of science. " The most/^ it is written, 
^^ that can be properly aimed at in teaching chemistry 
(I should prefer to extend the statement and say 
science) in elementary schools is the training of the 
faculties of observation and of orderly thinking, and 
the stimulation of the instinct of inquiry, which is the 
possession of every uneducated child. By restricting 
the teaching to common things this can easily be done, 
and so an interest aroused both in the phenomena of 
nature and in those involved in industrial operations.''^ 

What the report says of books on chemistry is true of 
books on other sciences. We need more books for in- 
struction that may show how chemistry and other sub- 
jects may be approached naturally and logically from a 
study of common things and of every-day phenomena. 

Home Teachers the Best. — The British Association 
Report recommends the peripatetic system of teaching 
science as the only one at present practical, because a 
high standard of scientific knowledge is absolutely 
necessary for the proper educative teaching of the most 
elementary chemistry. I incline to think myself that, 
where possible, it is better that all instruction should 
be given by some member of the school staff. I think 



OR WORDS AND THINGS, 37 

that a good organizing teacher, who can direct, advise, 
and encourage the class teachers in different schools in 
a district, would produce in the end more and better re- 
sults than a peripatetic teacher, because the latter can 
never know at all intimately the number of individual 
scholars whom he will have to address, and can know 
little of the contents of their minds or how to get hold 
of them. 

The kind of science teaching in elementary schools 
in Germany and Switzerland is well described in this 
report, where it is stated to be of the most simple and 
general character as distinguished from the systematic 
instruction for technical purposes, Avhich begins in poly- 
technics and higher schools. The higher teaching de- 
mands as its basis that the elementary science lessons 
shall not merely have given information, but that it 
shall have developed intelligence, that it shall have been 
rational and thorough, and that it shall have been given 
by good teachers. I do nqt myself know of any peri- 
patetic teachers in Berlin, but I met with teachers in 
large schools whose duty consisted entirely in teaching 
and superintending the teaching of science, just as one 
teacher often deals with needlework in England. No 
doubt in country districts the peripatetic system is at 
present often the only possible one, and also in towns 
where the schools are small or not large enough to oc- 
cupy the whole of the time of a science teacher. 

The Method more Important than the Subject. — How- 
ever taught, science in its elementary stage must be of 
the nature of object teaching. The subject may consist 
of a connected series of object lessons in a particular 



38 OBJECT TEACHING, 

study, such as many teachers are now devising in 
domestic economy, physiology, mechanics, and physics, 
or the field of inquiry may be more general, or the 
teaching may be applied to history or social science; 
but the real worth of this study of objects is not the 
quantity of ground covered and information imparted, 
but the quality and method of instruction. The obser- 
vations must be made or verified by the scholars them- 
selves, who are thus trained to use and trust their own 
senses and powers of inference instead of repeating 
other people^s descriptions or accounts in books. 

This kind of object teaching is an antidote to the 
degradation of learning, which we all know and deplore, 
but can never wholly escape. After a full and living 
description of an object the teacher writes down a few 
of the salient points in his development, which of course 
prove of immense value first to the examinee and after- 
wards to the examiner. The next step is that, in order 
to save time, the full account is omitted in teaching, 
and the dry bones of the skeleton are studied exclusively 
by the student as his sole weapon of defence against 
the examiner, and he abandons all hope of taking any 
interest in his studies except as means to a pass. It 
only remains for me to express my obligations in writ- 
ing this paper to two German authors — Karl Eichter, 
whose excellent treatise on Object Teaching has been 
the principal source for the first part of it; and 
Friedrich Junge, whose book, called "The Village 
Pond,^^ has supplied me with materials for the second 
part. 



OR WORDS AND THINGS. 39 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How far is it true to say that the senses are the gate- 
ways of knowledge ? 

2. Is the study of things rightly opposed to the study of 
words ? 

3. What is meant by saying that an object must be studied 
by analysis ? 

4. How does speech aid in the process of analyzing an 
object ? 

5. In what way may speech be regarded as the outward 
expression of an inward mental process ? 

6. What kind of use of words renders them ^* significant " 
to the speaker ? 

7. *'The word has a double nature." Explain what this 
double nature is. 

8. Show that a name is a summary of our knowledge of an 
object. 

9. What light does this study of words throw upon the 
evolution of the meaning of words ? 

10. Eecapitulate the uses of the word in studying an object. 

11. Why are good object lessons also good language lessons ? 

12. Why is it desirable that every one should learn a second 
language besides his mother tongue ? 

13. Show the importance of getting correct impressions 
from objects. 

14. How may inexact impressions lead to inexact reasoning ? 

15. *'Want of words filled with clear definite meaning is 
the greatest hindrance to culture." Illustrate this. 

16. In object lessons why is the method of instruction more 
important that the amount of information ? 



40 OBJECT TEACHING, 

17. Show that object teaching demands time and cannot be 
a hasty process. 

18. How may drawing and modelling assist object teaching ? 

19. What is the difference between object teaching and 
information lessons ? 



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Best Books for Teachers, 

OjASSIFIED JjISX VNDFIt STJBJMCTS. 

To aid teachers to procure the books best suited to their purpose, we 
give below a list of our publications classified uuder subjects. The di\'lsion 
is sometimes a difficult one to make, so that we £:ave in many cases placed 
the same book ui.der several cities; for instance, Currie's Early Education 
appears under Principles and Practice of Education, and also 
Primary Education. Recent books are starred, thus * 

HISTOEY OF EDUCATION, GREAT EDU- ^^^^^^ Pr?cYto Ma^ii 
CATORS, ETC. * Teachers Extra 

♦Allen's Historic Outlines of Education, - - paper .15 pd. 

Autobiography of Froebel, - - - - cl. .50 .40 ,05 

♦Browninsr's Aspects of Education Best edition. cloth .25 .20 .03 

" Educational Theories. Best edition. cl. .50 .-40 .05 

*Kellogg's Life of Pestalozzi, ~ - - _ paper ,15 pd. 

*Lang's Comenius, -._.____ paper .15 pd. 

* " Basedow, ------- paper .15 pd. 

* ** Rousseau and his "Emile" - _ _ paper .15 pd. 

* " Horace Mann, ------ paper .15 pd. 

* " Great Teachers of Four Centuries, - cl. .25 .20 .03 
♦Phelns' Life of David P. Page, - - - - paper .15 pd. 
Quick's Educational Reformers, Best edition, - cl. 1.00 .80 .08 
♦Reinb^«;t'5 History of Education, . - - cl. .25 .«0 .03 

PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION 

Allen s Mmd Studies for Young Teachers, - cl. .50 .40 .06 

Allen's Temperament in Education, - - - cl. .50 .40 .05 

Perez's First Three Years of Childhood. Best edition, cl. 1.50 1.30 .10 

Rooper '9 Apperception, Best edition, - - cl. .25 .20 .03 

Welch's Teachers* Psychology, - - - - cl. 1.25 1.00 .10 

" Talks on Psychoiosry, - - - - cl. .50 .40 .05 
PEINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 

Carter's Artificial Stupidity in School, - - paper .15 pd. 

Huntington's Unconscious Tuition, - - - paper .15 pd. 

Payne's Lectures on Science and Art of Education, cl. 1.00 .80 .08 

♦Reinhart's Principles of Education, - - - cl. .25 .20 .03 

♦Spencer's Education. Best edition. - - - cl. 1.00 .80 .10 

♦BTall (a. S.) Contents of Children's Minds, - cL .25 .20 3 

Tate's Philosophy of Education. Best edition. - cl. 1.50 1.20 ,10 

♦Teachers' Manual Series, 22 nos. ready, each, paper .16 pd. 

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF EDUCATION 

Currie's Early Education, ----- cl. 1.25 1.00 .08 

Fitch's Art of Questioning, ----- paper .15 pd 

" Art of Securing Attention - - _ paper .15 pd. 

" Lectures on Teaching, ----- cl. 1.25 1.00 pd. 

Hughes' Mistakes in Teaching. Best edition. - cl. .50 .40 .05 

** Securing and Retaining Attention, Best ed. cl. .50 .40 .05 

♦Parker's Talks on Pedagogy, ^ead?/ JVov. '93. cl. 1.50 1.20 .12 

" Talks on Teaching, - - - - cl. 1.25 1.00 .09 

" Practical Teacher, ----- cl. 1.50 1.20 .U 

Quick's How to Train tbe Memory, - - - naper .15 pd. 

♦Reinhart's Principles of Education, - - cl. .16 pd. 

* *' Civics m Education, - - - - cl. .25 .20 .03 
Southwick's Quiz Manual of Teaching, - - cl. .75 .60 .05 
Yonge's Practical Work in School, - - - paper .16 pd. 

METHODS AND SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

♦Augsburg's Easy Drawings for Geog. Class, - paper .50 .40 .05 

" Easy Things to Draw, - - - paper .30 .24 .03 

Calkins' Ear and Voice Training, - - - cl. .50 .40 .06 

Dewey's How to Teach Manners, _ - _ cl. .50 .40 .05 

Gladstone's Object Teaching, - - - - paper .15 pd. 

Hughes' How to Keep Order, - - - _ paper .15 pd. 

Johnson's Education by Doing, - - _ cl. .50 .40 .05 

♦Kellogg's How to Write Compositions - - paper 15 pd. 

*' Geography by Map Drawing. - - cl. .50 ^O .05 

** School Maua<8rement, - - - - cl. .75 .«o .Oft 



McMurry'g How to CoDduct the Recitation, - paper .15 pd 

Patricide's QuiDcy Methods, Illustrated. - - cl. 1.75 1.4:0 .13 

Seeley'sGrube Method Teaching A litltmetic, cl. l.CO .SO .07 

*' Grube Idea in Teachinfr Arithmetic - cl. .30 .^4t .03 

SidgTt^ick's Stimulus in School, - - - paper .16 pd. 

Shaw and Donneil's School Devices, - - cl. 1.26 1,00 .10 

Smith's Rapid Practice Cards, - - - 33 sets, each .50 

Woodhull's Easy Experiments in Science, - cl. .60 .40 ,05 

" Home Made Apparatus, - - - cl. .60 .40 .05 

PRIMAEY AND KINDERGARTEN 

Calkins* Ear and Voice Training, - - ~ cl. .50 .40 J^ 

Currie's Early Education, ----- cl. 1.25 1.00 .08 

Gladstone's Object Teaching-, - - - - paper .16 pd. 

Autobiography of Froebel, - - -. - cl. .50 .40 .05 

Hoffman's Kmdergarten Gifts, - - - - paper .16 pd. 

Johnson's Education by Doing, - - - - cl. .50 .40 .06, 

Parker's Talks on Teaching, - - - _ cl. 1.25 l.CO .09i 

Patridge's Qumcy Methods, - _ - - cl. 1.75 1.40 .13 

Seeley's Grube Method of Teaching Arithmetic, dL. 1.00 .80 .07 

'* Grube Idea in Primary Arithmetic, - cl. .30 .84 ,03 

MANUAL TRAINING 

Butler's Argument for Manual Training, - - paper .15 pd. 

Love's Industrial Education, - - - - cl. 1.50 1.20 .12 

♦Upham's Fifty Lessons in Woodworking, - cl. .50 .40 06 

QUESTION BOOKS FOR TEACHERS 

Analytical Question Series. Geography, - - cl. .50 .40 .05 

C". S. History, - cl. .50 .40 .05 

" " Grammar, - - cl. .50 .40 .05 

N. r. State Examination Questions, - - - cl. 1.00 .80 .08 

Shaw's >Tational Question Book, _ - - 1.75 pd. 

Soutdwick's Handy Helps, - - ^ - - cl. 1.00 .80 .08 

Southwick's Quiz Manual of Teaching. Best edition, cl. c75 .60 .05 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION and SCHOOL HYGIENE 

Groff's School Hygiene, ----- paper .15 pd. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

♦Blaikie On Self Culture, ----- cl. .25 .30 .03 

Fitch's Improvement in Education, - - - paper .15 pd. 

Gardner's Town and Country School Buildings, cl. 3.50 3.00 .13 

Lubbock's Best 100 Books, ----- paper .«0 pd. 

Pooler's N. Y. School Law, ----- cl. .30 .34 .03 

^Walsh's Great Rulers of the World, - - - cl. .50 .40 .05 

Wilhelm's Student's Calendar, - - - - paper .30 .34 .03 

SINGING AND DIALOGUE BOOKS 

Reception Day Series, 6 Nos. (Set $1.40 postpaid.) Each. .30 .34 .08 

Song Treasures. ------- paper .16 pd. 

♦Best Primary Songs, new ------- .16 pd. 

SCHOOL APPARATUS 

Smith's Rapid Practice Arithmetic Cards, (33 sets), Each, .50 pd. 
** Standard " Manikin. (Sold by subscription.) Price on application. 

" Man Wonderlul " Manikin, _ - - - 5.00 pd. 
Standard Blackboard Stencils, 500 different nos., 

from 5 to 50 cents each. Send for special catalogue. 

'* Unique" Pencil Sharpener, - - - - 1.60 ,10 
Standard Physician's Manikin. (Sold by subscription.) 

^^ 100 page classified, illustrated, descriptive Catalogue of the above 
and many other Method Books, Teachers' Helps, sent free. 100 page Cat- 

logue of books lor teachers, of all publishers, light school apparatus, etc. 
also free. Each of these contain our special teachers' prices. 

E. L. KELLOQQ & CO,, New York & Chicago. 



Send all ordsrs to 
^8 E. Z. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

— — - — — — ■ . ■ 

Hughes ^Mistakes in Teaching. 

By James J. Hughes, Inspector of Schools, Toronto, Canada. 
Cloth, 16mo, 115 pp. Price, 50 cents; to teachers, 40 cents; 
by mail, 5 cents extra. 

Thousands of copies of the old 
edition have been sold. The new 
edition is worth double the old; 
the material has been increased, 
restated, and greatly improved. 
Two new and important Chapters 
have been added on ''Mistakes in 
Aims," and ''Mistakes in Moral 
Training." Mr. Hughes says in hia 
preface: "In issuing a revised edi* 
tion of this book, it seems fitting to 
acknowledge gratefully the hearty 
appreciation that has been accorded 
it by American teachers. Realiz- 
ing as I do that its very large sale 
. indicates that it has been of service 
to many of my fellow-teachers, I 
I have recognized the duty of enlarg- 
ing and revising it so as to make it 
still more helpful in preventing 
James L. Hughes, Inspector of the common mistakes in teaching 
Schools, Toronto, Canada. ^^^ training. " 

This is one of the six books recommended by the N. Y. State 
Department to teachers preparing for examination for State cer- 
tificates. 

CAUTION. 

Our new authorized copyright edition, entirely rewritten by 
iJie autJwr, is the only one to buy. It is beautifully printed arid 
handsomely bound. Get no other. 

CONTENTS OF OUR NEW EDITION. 

Chap. I. 7 Mistakes in Aim. 
Chap. II. 21 Mistakes in School Management. 
Chap. III. 24 Mistakes in Discipline. 
Chap. IV. 27 Mistakes in Method. 
Chap. V. 13 Mistakes in Moral Training. 
Chaps, L and F. a/re entirely n^w. 




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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., ]^EW YORK & CHICAGO. 

QuickCs Educational Reformers. 

By Rev. Robert Herbert Quick, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridjce, 
England. Bound in plain, but elegant cloth binding. 16mo, about 350 pp. 
$1.00; to teachers^ 80 cts.; by mail, 10 cts. extra. 

This book supplies information that is contained in no other single 
volume, touching the progress of education in its earliest stages after 
the revival of learning. It is the work of a practical teacher, who 
supplements his sketches of famous educationists with some well- 
considered observations, that deserve the attention of all who are in- 
terested in that subject. Beginning with Roger Ascham, it gives an 
account of the lives and schemes of most of the great thinkers and 
workers in the educational field, down to Herbert Spencer, with the 
addition of a valuable appendix of thoughts and suggestions on teach- 
ing. The list includes the names of Montaigne, Ratich, Milton, Come- 
nius, Locke, Rousseau, Basedow, Pestalozzi, and Jacotot. in th« 
lives and thoughts of these eminent men is presented the whole phi- 
losophy of education, as developed in the progress of modern times. 

Contents : 1. Schools of the Jesuits; 2. Aschara, Montaigne, Ratich, 
Milton; 3. Comenius; 4. Locke; 5. Rousseau's Emile; 6. Basedow and 
the Philanthropin ; 7. Pestalozzi ; 8. Jacotot ; 9. Herbert Spencer ; 
10. Thoughts and Suggestions about Teaching Children ; 11. Some Re- 
marks about Moral and Religious Education ; 12. Appendix. 

Augsburg s Easy Things to Draw. 

By D. R. Augsburg, Director of Drawing in the Keystone Normal School, 
Kutztown, Pa. Quarto, durable and elegant cardboard cover, 80 pp., 
with 31 pages of plates, containing over 200 dLfferent figures. Price, 30 
cents; to teachers^ 24: cents; by mail, 4 cents extra. 
This book is not designed to present a system of drawing. It Is a 
collection of drawings made in the simplest possible way, and so con- 
structed that any one may reproduce them. Its design is to furnish a 
hand-book containing drawings, as w^ould be needed for the school- 
room for object lessons, drawing lessons, busy work. This collection 
may be used in connection with any system of drawing, as it contains 
examples suitable for practice. It may also be used alone, as a means 
of learning the art of drawing. As will be seen from the above the 
idea of this book is new and novel. Those who have seen it are de- 
lighted with it as it so exactly fills a want. Our list of Black-board 
Stencils is in the same line. 

Graded Examination Questions. 

For N. Y. State, from Sept. '87 to Sept. '89, with ansvjers complete. First, 
Second, and Third Grades. Cloth, 12mo. 219 pp. Price, $1.00; to 
teachers, 80 cents; by mail, 8 cents extra. 

This volume contains the Uniform Graded Examination Questions, 
issued to the School Commissioners of the State by the Dept. of Public 
Instruction, commencing Sept. '87, and ending Aug. 13 and 14, 1 889. 
The answers are also given. These questions have been adopted by 
all the school commissioners of the State; the test in each county thus 
becomes uniform. These questions are being used very largely in 
many other States, that pattern after New York, and will therefore be 
of far more than local interest. Our edition is the best in arrange^ 
ment, print, binding, and has an excellent contents and index. 



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E. Z. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 33 



Reception Day. 6 ^os. 

A collection of fresh and original dialogues, recitations, decla- 
mations, and short pieces for practical use in Public and 
Private Schools. Bound in handsome new paper cover, 160 
pages each, printed on laid paper. Price, 30 cents each; t6 
teachers y 24 cents; by mail, 3 cents extra. 
The exercises in these books bear upon education; have a rela- 
tion to the school-room. 

1. The dialogues, recitations, and declamations gathered in 

this volume being fresh, short, 
^^ and easy to be comprehended, are 
F^^'i'-- l^i/l^yl^ "^"^11 fitted for the average scholars 
^^ '"'' -''^ ^^ ^1 of our schools. 

2. They have mainly been used 
by teachers for actual school 
exercises. 

3. They cover a different ground 
; from the speeches of Demosthenes 
: and Cicero — which are unfitted 

for boys of twelve to sixteen 
I years of age. 

4. They have some practical in- 
'■ terest for those who use them. 

5. There is not a vicious sen- 
tence uttered. In some dialogue 

\ books profanity is found, or dis- 
; obedience to parents encouraged, 
; or lying laughed at. Let teachers 
I look out for this. 

6. There is something for the 
youngest pupils. 

7. ''Memorial Day Exercises" for Bryant, Garfield, Lincoln, 
etc., will be found. 

8. Several Tree Planting exercises are included. 

9. The exercises have relation to the school-room, and bear 
upon education. 

10. An important point is the freshness of these pieces. Most 
of them were written expressly for this collection, and can be 
found nowhere else. 

Boston Journal of Education.— " It is of practical value." 
Detroit Free Press.—" Suitable for public and private schools." 
Western Ed. Journal,—*' A series of very good selections.'* 




New Cover. 



SBNB ALL ORDERS TO 

34: E. L, KELLOGG & CO., NEW YOBK & CHICAGO. 
WHAT EACH NUMBER CONTAINS. 



No. 1 

Is a Bpecially fine number. One dia- 
logue in it, called " Work Conquers," 
for 11 girls and 6 boys, has been given 
hundreds of times, and is alone worth 
the price of the book. Then there 
are 21 other dialogues. 
29 Recitations. 
14 Declamations. 
17 Pieces for the Primary Class. 

No. 2 Contains 

29 Recitations. 
12 Declamations. 

17 Dialogues. 

24 Pieces for the Primary Class. 

And for Class Exercise as follows: 

The Bird's Party. 

Indian Names. 

Valedictory. 

Washington's Birthday. 

Garfield Memorial Day. 

Grant- 

Whittier " " 

Sigourney " " 

No. 3 Contains 

Fewer of the longer pieces and more 
of the shorter, as follows : 

18 Declamations. 

21 Recitations. 

22 Dialogues. 

24 Pieces for the Primary Class. 
A Christmas Ex:ercise. 
Opening Piece, and 
An Historical Celebration. 



No. 4- Contains 

Campbell Memorial Day. 

Longfellow " '* 

Michael Angelo " *' 
Shakespeare " " 
Washington " " 
Christmas Exercise. 
Arbor Day " 
New Planting '* 
Thanksgiving '* 
Value of Knowledge Exercise. 
Also 8 other Dialogues. 
21 Recitations. 

23 Declamations. 

No. 5 Contains 

Browning Memorial Day. 
Autumn Exercise. 
Bryant Memorial Day. 
New Planting Exercise. 
Christmas Exercise. 
A Concert Exercise. 

24 Other Dialogues. 
16 Declamations, and 
36 Recitations. 

No. 6 Contains 

Spring; a flower exercise for very 

young pupils. 
Emerson Memorial Day. 
New Year's Day Exercise. 
Holmes' Memorial Day. 
Fourth of July Exercise. 
Shakespeare Memorial Day. 
Washington's Birthday Exercise. 
Also 6 other Dialogues. 
6 Declamations. 
41 Recitations. 

15 Recitations for the Primary Class. 
And 4 Songs. 



Our Reception Day Series is not sold largely by booksellers, 
who, if they do not keep it, try to have you buy something else 
gimilar, but not so good. Therefore send direct to the publishers, 
by mail, the price as above, in stamps or postal notes, and your 
order will be filled at once. Discount for quantities. 



SPECIAL OFFER. 

If ordered at one time, we will send postpaid the entire 
8 Nos. for $1.40. Note the reduction. 






B.L, 



SEND ALL ORDERS T6 

KEJLLO&G i& CO., NEW TOBK & OmCAGO, 



4i 



Song Treasures. 



THE PRIOE HAS BEEN 
GREATLY REDUCED. 



Compiled by Amos M. Kellogg, editor of the School Jour- 
NAL. Beautiful and durable postal-card manilla cover> 
printed in two colors, 64 pp. Price, 15 cents each; to teachers, 
12 cents; by mail, 2 cents extra. 30th thousand. Write for 
our special tsrms to scJwolsfor quantities. Special k/rmsfor use 
at Teachers' Institutes. 
This is a most ^ 
valuable col- 
lection of mu- 
s i G for air' 
schools and in- 
stitutes. 

1. Most of I 
the pieces have 
been selected ' 
by the teachers 
as favorites in | 
t h e schools. 
They are the 
ones the pupils 
love to sing. 
It contains 
nearly 100' 
pieces. 

2. All the pieces " have a ring to them ;" they are easily 
learned, and will not be forgotten. 

3. The themes and words are appropriate for young people. 
In these respects the work will be found to possess unusual merit. 
Nature, the Flowers, the Seasons, the Home, our Duties, our 
Creator, are entuned with beautiful music. 

4. Great ideas may find an entrance into the mind through 
music. Aspirations for the good, the beautiful, and the true are 
presented here in a musical form. 

5. Many of the words have been written especially for the 
book. One piece, ''The Voice Within Us,'' p. 57, is worth the 
price of the book. 

6. The titles here given show the teacher what we mean ; 

Ask the Children, Beauty Everywhere, Be in Time, Cheerfulness, 
OhTtstmas Bells, Days of Summer Glory, The Dearest Spot, Evening Song, 
€r«ntle Words, Going to School, Hold up the Right Hand, I Love the Merry, 
Sterry Sunshine, Kind Deeds, Over in the Meadows, Our Happy School, 
Scatter the Germs of the Beautiful, Time to Walk, The Jolly Workers, Th^ 
Teaebw'B Lile, Ti?ibut« to Whifetier, etc., etc. 




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